Championship Advisor Teams: A Super Bowl Strategy for Exit Planning

Posted on February 9, 2024December 11, 2024 by admin

It’s Super Bowl Weekend! As the San Francisco 49ers get ready to take on the reigning champs in the Kansas City Chiefs, business owners around the country are looking to exit their businesses, but might not have the right resources to reach all of their goals at the time of their exit.

For each team playing on Sunday, it’s taken grit, perseverance, and hard work to be able to perform on the biggest stage in sports. It’s no different for business owners, who dedicate their lives to something they believe in. Just as professional sports organizations carefully select each player when developing a championship-caliber team, assembling an advisor team for business Exit Planning is an essential process for generating exit success.

Every business owner’s exit strategy is as unique as the teams that compete for the Super Bowl, with specific financial goals, values, and timelines. Leaving a business carries countless implications that affect more than just the business owner: For instance, an owner looking to exit their business needs to consider whom he or she will transfer the business to; how taxes will affect the net sale price; how he or she can make sure that key employees don’t sabotage the sale; and how to distribute wealth from the sale among family, charity, investments, and self.

Just as no single player can win the game alone, successfully creating and executing an Exit Plan typically requires expertise from several advisors from different professional fields. That’s because no single advisor has sufficient expertise or experience to create and implement all of the activities required in a typical Exit Plan. In many cases and throughout our history as thought leaders across the Exit Planning industry, a collaborative effort from a network of seasoned professionals is essential for success.

Across all sports, bench players have an important role in relieving starting players in special situations, such as when the bench player excels over the starter in a specific circumstance. That’s precisely what your Advisor Team does. While the Exit Planner often takes the lead for the overarching Exit Planning Process, the Exit Planner knows when to insert his or her bench players to maximize performance and output, giving the team’s owner (i.e., the business owner) the best chance to succeed. Let’s take a deeper dive into the Exit Planning end zone and how each professional plays an integral role in ensuring a successful exit.

The Game Plan

The Quarterback: The Exit Planning Advisor

In this strategic game, the Exit Planning Advisor acts as the quarterback, calling the plays and coordinating the team’s efforts towards achieving the business owner’s exit objectives. This role demands a comprehensive understanding of the owner’s goals and the ability to lead and integrate the efforts of various specialists.

The Offensive Line: Financial Strategists

This line-up includes Financial Planners, CPAs, Valuation Specialists, and Wealth Managers, each tasked with protecting and maximizing the owner’s financial interests. Like any football team’s offensive line, they work in unison to create a strong defense against financial vulnerabilities, ensuring the business’s value is optimized for exit.

The Defensive Team: Legal and Risk Advisors

Business and Estate Planning Attorneys, along with Insurance Advisors, form the defense, mitigating risks and ensuring the owner’s legacy is preserved through carefully crafted legal strategies and protective measures. Their expertise is crucial in navigating the complexities of business continuity and legal compliance.

Special Teams: The Niche Experts

Niche advisors, including Business Consultants and M&A Specialists, are the special teams, bringing unique skills for specific challenges. Their involvement can make the critical difference in preparing the business for a successful transfer or sale.

Building the Team

Identifying MVPs

When selecting advisors for your team, prioritize expertise, experience with owners, willingness to provide informal advice, and a deadline-driven approach. These qualities ensure that the team can effectively address the unique challenges and opportunities of Exit Planning. Having an advisor team full of MVPs is also a differentiation strategy for you and your services as owners want to work with advisors and advisor teams they can trust to help them achieve their goals!

The Strategic Playbook

For a deeper dive into building engagement and advisor teams, check out our blog on Building Engagement & Advisor Teams One Step at a Time. This resource provides valuable lessons on forming a cohesive team that can navigate the complexities of Exit Planning together.

Execution for the Win

Remember, it’s never too early to plan for a business exit! Starting the team-building process early is key to aligning strategies and ensuring that each advisor’s role is clear. Check out this article From Entrepreneur answering the question, When Should Business Owners Start Developing an Exit Plan? This approach not only streamlines the Exit Planning process but also opens new opportunities for client engagement and sets your practice apart in a crowded field.

Engaging Owners Before, During & After Transition

As we inch closer to kickoff, remember that like a championship team, a well-coordinated group of advisors is essential for navigating a business owner through a successful exit. With the right team in place, business owners can achieve their exit goals, ensuring a legacy that endures beyond their tenure. Connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter for more insights and updates!

Transforming Owner Resistance into Opportunities with Proven Strategies

Posted on October 20, 2023 by admin

See how BEI helps professional advisors like you overcome owner objections to business planning conversations.

When BEI engages with new and prospective professional advisors, some tell us about a common hurdle that prevents them from having the success they want: “Owners don’t want to talk about succession planning with me.” Even though advisors want to provide their important services and business owners know they should have a plan for their eventual business exits, there’s still resistance to the planning conversation.

The reasons why business owners feel this way can be numerous. They may misinterpret Exit Planning as someone ripping them away from their businesses against their will. They may also think that developing a plan for transition will take up too much of their time.

While these reasons are the result of misunderstanding the point and process of Exit Planning, it doesn’t mean that advisors should disregard them as there is a large opportunity to capitalize on with owners just like this. Typically, advisors just need to frame the offer of talking about Exit Planning differently. One of the most effective ways to do this is for advisors to rely on their core expertise.

Keep Planning Conversations in Your Wheelhouse

All successful advisors have exceptional credentials in their respective professional fields. The obstacle that falls in their way is often related to balancing their technical expertise with the relationship-building skills necessary to become a successful advisor.

For many business owners, the idea of an advisor coming to them to talk about leaving their businesses can be jarring. After all, it’s likely that they see their businesses as an extension of themselves. So, having someone suggest that they should plan for when it’s time for that extension to go away can be confusing and even threatening.

The way to overcome objections about business planning is for advisors to talk to owners in the owners’ language, using their core advisory expertise.

For example, we recently spoke with a CPA who uses the BEI Premium License to attract, engage, and eventually develop a plan with clients. When this advisor first started out, he would open his planning discussions with both current and prospective clients by asking, “Would you like to talk about exiting your business?” Usually, business owners would decline. He started to get frustrated, so he reached out to BEI. We suggested that, at least initially, he focus on how his core expertise fits into succession planning rather than focusing on outright Exit Planning.

This meant that rather than asking his clients if they’d like to specifically talk about leaving their businesses, he would ask them questions like, “What kinds of tax-minimizing retirement planning have you done?” or “How do you think taxes might affect you and your business when you eventually sell and retire?” These kinds of questions do two things:

They probe at business owners’ pain points without directly talking about their business exits. By asking questions about their futures without implying there is a problem, advisors can let business owners identify areas that they consider to be issues. When business owners identify a problem with how they see the future of their business, they’re more likely to commit to a conversation.

They let advisors guide the conversation toward Exit Planning using their core expertise. By leading with what they know, advisors can talk about aspects of Exit Planning with full confidence and help business owners identify what might be bothering them about their business exits. As a bonus, those advisors are more likely to offer products and services already being sold within their firm.

How BEI Helps Facilitate Planning Conversations

One of the major benefits of BEI’s tools, strategies, and content licensing is that these aspects help advisors use their technical skills on a larger playing field. Exit Planning Advisors use their core expertise to open the conversation about Exit Planning on terms that both they and their business-owning clients understand and are comfortable with.

It’s easy for advisors to over leverage their expertise without asking themselves why owners would care about what they’re telling them. BEI helps advisors balance their technical expertise with the relationship-building skills they need to establish the Exit Planning conversation properly, resulting in success not only for the client, but for the advisor as well.

From assessment tools and documented methods to show their expertise, to lists of questions to ask and access to advisors who have had proven success in breaking through resistance to Exit Planning, BEI knows how to help advisors start the Exit Planning conversation successfully.

Niche Marketing: The Indispensable Advisor

Posted on September 29, 2023 by admin

In the realm of business and transition planning, carving a niche isn’t merely a marketing strategy; it’s an avenue to becoming indispensable.

At our recent BEI National Conference, BEI Members, David Jean, CPA, CCIFP, CExP, of Albin Randall & Bennett and Matthew DiFrancesco, CExP, CAA, of High Lift Financial, hosted a session that shed light on the power and process of engaging in a niche market for advisors, especially those aiding small business owners in transitioning their ventures smoothly to the next generation.

Throughout this blog, we’ll highlight key aspects of niche marketing and insights aimed to equip advisors with a renewed perspective on engaging clients in niche sectors.

Transitioning into a Niche: A Natural Progression

A recurring theme among small business owners is the concern about the legacy of their business, particularly when it involves family. Many owners ask themselves, “What will happen to my company when I’m no longer here?” In niche markets, owners typically want to transition their businesses to their children.

Across the country, passionate, independent owners are looking for ways to grow their businesses and eventually pass it on. As owners realize the options within business transitions, advisors have the opportunity to establish themselves as the knowledgeable source in succession planning.

So, what can you do as a business advisor to establish yourself in a niche industry?

Longtime BEI Member David highlighted his experience working with contractors and his seamless transition into Exit Planning for this specific sector. His firm’s established reputation in accounting and taxation in their area presented a solid groundwork for marketing succession planning services to contractors.

As you begin to research niche industries in your area, are there opportunities to leverage your existing reputation and clientele as you venture into expanding your services by adding Exit Planning? Are there common trends with your clientele that you can lean into and use in your marketing message to usher these businesses into the next generation?

Find Your Passion

David and Matt both emphasized the importance of being passionate about the chosen industry. What is it that drives you? What types of clients do you want to be working with? They cited examples from the collision industry, where independent owners are deeply invested in their businesses and are scouting for growth and transition strategies amidst a surge in industry consolidation. Such real-world scenarios are fertile grounds for advisors to plant their expertise, grow relationships, and reap the rewards of being a go-to advisor in that domain.

The journey from general financial planning to becoming an authority in Exit Planning for a particular industry is not devoid of challenges. It entails starting with a small client base, dedicating time to understanding the industry intricacies, and progressively building a voice within that sector.

David Jean was spurred into becoming a Certified Exit Planner (CExP) after encountering a client with a severe health condition. The family’s unpreparedness in managing the business post-crisis illuminated the necessity of Exit Planning, consequently reshaping David’s practice to better serve his clientele.

The Benefits of Niche Marketing

As you become the expert advisor in your industry, you’re better able to understand the intricacies and special considerations involved. Furthermore, diving into a niche market allows you to:

Do what you’re comfortable with by combining your passion with your skillset
Develop customized cross-selling solutions across your industry
Identify risk and key issues early on in the planning process

Furthermore, with a niche, you have the opportunity to expand your message by getting onto industry specific podcasts to network and foster relationships with industry influencers. You can also look at trade publications and associations to provide written content and bring awareness to the importance of transition planning and how your expertise is invaluable to those business owners.

Building Credibility in a Niche Industry

Transitioning into a niche might feel like a dive into the deep end, but remember, ‘people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care’. Building a competent team, engaging with the industry stakeholders to understand their pain points, and offering services geared towards the goals and challenges of a specific industry can help in establishing yourself in the market.

The roadmap to becoming an expert Exit Planner in a niche industry, as portrayed in the session, hinges on a blend of passion, leveraging an existing reputation, understanding the industry deeply, and employing strategic networking and knowledge-sharing platforms like podcasts and articles.

The Bottom Line

Delving into a niche isn’t just about a narrowing focus; it’s about amplifying your impact and value in a way that resonates profoundly with clients in need of expert guidance on possibly one of the most critical transitions in their business lifecycle.

The BEI Advisor Network is an excellent resource for professionals like you, connecting advisors with the right industry or expertise, enabling a collaborative approach towards offering more value to clients. Schedule time with the BEI Team to learn more about becoming a member of our network.

Tag: BEINetwork